1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to file management and organization, and, more particularly, to machines, program products, and methods of file management, storage, and display, including computer scrapbooking and journaling.
2. Background
With the proliferation of inexpensive digital cameras, including the ubiquity of camera phones, personal photography has never been more common. It is known, however, that many photographs are underutilized. Typically, personal photographs are haphazardly stored in drawers and boxes (if prints) or computer folders and memory devices (if digital files), uncategorized and rarely viewed by anyone. Photo albums provide well known means for storing and viewing photographs. A photo album is a book with blank pages used for making a collection of photographs. However, the tasks associated with organizing, storing, and selecting photographs for photo albums are quite time-consuming and require extensive decision-making. While photo albums generally display photographs with or without captions, scrapbooks feature other mementos in addition to photographs, such as, e.g., ticket stubs, letters, announcements, invitations, bulletins, programs, receipts, and the like. Due to the inclusion of these mementos, scrapbooks often provide better context for photographs than photo albums, but at a cost of even more extensive decision-making.
Similarly, it is known that the proliferation of movie clips, audio clips, and other electronic files has resulted in unorganized, underutilized clutter on computer and file storage systems. Likewise, it is well known that personal documents are often haphazardly stored and uncategorized, including, e.g., personal financial records such as brokerage receipts and tax records, personal medical records such as immunization charts, and government documents such as marriage licenses.
Digital slide shows and rotating picture frames are known, and the inclusion of a photograph in a particular computer folder typically determines its inclusion in the slide show or rotation. That is, the location of the file, whether in a particular folder (or not), determines its inclusion (or exclusion) from the slide show.